“When you’re the victim, you don’t have a say in your future.”

– J.D. Redmon, Founder, Acces Expd. J.D.

Anyone who glamorizes the entrepreneurial experience is glossing over the stress and pressure that successful founders must face. You have to be willing to go without in order to take care of your family and your team. You have to push through the self-doubt and allow the job to be all-consuming if your vision is ever going to come to pass. Most of all, you have to be good at connecting with and reaching people.

J.D. Redmon is an experienced Fortune 500 executive, a motivational team leader, and the Founder of Acces Expd. J.D. He has painstakingly pieced together a strategy for reaching people and creating an environment that makes it easier for them to see the value of what he offers.

In this episode, host Scott Luton welcomes J.D. to discuss:

· How he helps people access the marketing solutions and resources they need, not just what they ask him for

· The evidence he sees that the trend towards diversity marketing and hiring is gaining ground

· Why the most important weapon any of us has is our voice, and how we can use it to achieve what is needed

Welcome to supply chain. Now the voice of global supply chain supply chain now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues. The challenges and opportunities stay tuned to hear from those making global business happen right here on supply chain now.

Scott Luton (00:32):

Good morning, Scott Luton was supply chain now welcome to today’s show. We’ve got an excellent conversation teed up on this episode, we’re talking with a leadership and supply chain dynamo. Our guest is an experienced fortune 500 executive who’s well-known for team building for driving change and channeling important discussions on heavy topics like diversity and inclusion. You may have seen him on countless shows and keynotes and podcasts. You name it. His passion. I can tell you from firsthand experience is truly contagious. It’s welcoming JD Redmon, founder and CEO with ACCE XPD JD how are you doing?

JD Redmon (01:09):

I’m doing really good, man. I’m excited to be back on the show. I think we were just talking about it. Your guys’ show is blowing up. It’s becoming now like the real deal, all the feel at night. I mean by that is it’s like guys, Scott was talking to me about production and making sure that my angle was together. You know, the quality of the scandal that he is fully producing the show. And I bet people know that they recognize it. And that’s why your audience keeps growing because they see how much you put into it, man.

Scott Luton (01:37):

Uh, man, you are too kind. You’re too kind. But going back to that real deal, Holy field, you know, I thought we were going to see Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, Duke it out again, but it looks like the, the attorneys and agents couldn’t quite put it together. Huh?

JD Redmon (01:51):

I think that just got shut down. I think both of them needed to admit to themselves that it would have been on a great one, two, maybe three rounds. But come on guys. Let’s let’s let’s remember the glory days. Let’s just sit down and have a talk with the chair about what

Scott Luton (02:08):

You know, and those figures, man, that, that, that was like the glory days of heavyweight boxing, you know, Lennox Lewis and my course Mike Tyson, man for the first what? 40 fights he was unstoppable. And, and, and when he entered the rain, man, it would send chills up your spine. I mean, he’s the Michael Jordan of boxing perhaps, but nonetheless, so I’m, I’m excited to have you here with us, JD Redmond. Uh, we’ve enjoyed you appeared on the supply chain buzz. It’s been too long, but man, you’ve been up to some really big things, which, which has gotten me stoked. I can’t wait until we kind of share what you’re doing now, but before we do that, let’s get your origin story out there a bit. Right? Marvel comic superhero, JD Redmond. So let’s start with, tell us about where you’re from and give us some antidotes of your upbringing.

JD Redmon (02:52):

Yeah, man, I I’m, I’m just a Cajun country boy on Louisiana. Uh, the sticks grew on a dirt road and then eventually moved to pave road. And that was a big deal to let you know how country I grew up, the fact that we could go outside and there was a street was amazing to us. And so man, it was small town living less than 20,000 people in that city. And we were just all hoping to either be in the military to become like a sports athlete, you know, get a scholarship and go somewhere or you’re going to go work in the oil field or work in like the Papermill like Detroit is like that small town living. Like we weren’t, we didn’t have these grandioso dreams. I never imagined that I would be like this because anecdotes of my city, you know, we, we talk in very Koch glue style verbiage, you know, like, boy don’t do that. You know, that’s, that’s fatter and impossible with the moms, you know, or you know, the day on a daytime. And it’s like, that’s it

Scott Luton (03:49):

Fatter than a possum with the mumps? Yes. Wow. I grew up in small town, South Carolina, but that is a new one for me. I’m a, still that,

JD Redmon (03:58):

Yes. That’s how we do, uh, you know, even my coachee, if you have tight muscles, you black, your most is a tad in the Coldwell oatmeal. Like, you know, it’s just, that’s how we talk. And so now looking into like have become professionally, you know, there are still times like my mother and my sister was still out here this last weekend. And as we were talking, you know, I realized I need to flip back my country. I was like, wait, flip the contract back on because I can’t understand what they’re saying. And so that’s, that’s kinda my life man, going from being the country boy to trying to adapt to living in the city.

Scott Luton (04:30):

I love that. You know, I use the phrase it’s own like a pot of neck bone back in my earliest days in the air force. I had folks look at me like I was crazy. So he had to explain it, but what, what specifically, what town did you grow up? What’s that small town. What’s the name of it?

JD Redmon (04:45):

The town is Magatish Louisiana inside of negative pairs. So it’s, uh, where the Northwest of the state university demons are. And, uh, it’s known as the city of lights. So every year, the first weekend of December, they bring in about 10 to 15,000 tourists to come see our lights on cane river, uh, kinda enjoy our French quarters. Nagesh is the oldest city in the Louisiana purchase. So, um, we have a lot of French history there, a lot of Creole Cajuns, last names, people that you can understand when they talk, when I went to a speech pathologist. So you can understand me. So that just to kind of give you an understanding of just how fixed sometimes the accent can be.

Scott Luton (05:23):

Wow. Okay. One more thing about kind of your personal background you shared with us when he came on the bus that, that your family’s got a bunch of land down there. And in up in Louisiana that was had, was ravaged by some storms, give us an update. How’s the family doing? How’s the property and all that good stuff.

JD Redmon (05:41):

It’s been interesting. So that was actually going into some things that took place. When I first started the business, because we had to go down and repair some of the rental properties that as family homes and what a lot of people don’t know is sometimes those rental properties are covered underneath hurricane where the deductible is between one to 4% of the actual value of the home. So, you know, depending on where they stayed you, as you know, the danger zone depends on your percent itself. We went through that. We’re rebuilding the barn and the bondsmen fixed land is now cleared out. You know, so we’re well into recovery now getting things back together, but that was a big blow for us with that storm. Not as horrible as hurricane Katrina and hurricane Rita, but definitely close when it just came to wind damage. And you know, some people still don’t know where their livestock are because they just, wow,

Scott Luton (06:33):

Well coming attractions, JD and his family has rebounded incredibly. And we’re going to talk about that momentarily. So let’s talk, let’s, let’s keep looking back a little bit. I want, I want to kind of talk about your professional journey in particular. What’s a couple of roles that kind of helped shape your worldview, JD.

JD Redmon (06:49):

Yeah. So I will start all the way at the beginning at Apple, which is a, my first job was my third at Apple. We worked, there was my dream job. I begged to work there. I would do nine interviews to get into the company and my managing partner, Megan Melchers, who I really wanted to bring up in this conversation. Megan Melcher looked at me and she said, JD, you have a gift with people. And you think of people first, before you think of yourself. She said, you’re going to be a great manager one day. And I was 19, 20 years old. And I’m looking at her like, all I want is a check for my skateboard so that when I get up in the city bus, I won’t have to walk home. I can skate down the street, but she kept channeling that NBN. So she brought me to realize that I was a leader of fast forward to Hertz, became an area manager there and led DFW teams.

JD Redmon (07:38):

We grew immensely under the leadership, not just myself, but under leaders. That taught me how to think about people. First at Hertz is where I learned how to grind, manage the training to the top. So I didn’t come in in a leadership role. I came in as a mandatory need than an assistant branch manager, branch manager, then an area manager. And this took place within three years with sometimes I can take place over 10 to 13 years. I was blessed moving from Hertz and having that experience on leading an entire metropolitan area as well. I just DFW, I went into Rent-A-Center as a corporate liaison or relationship manager. This first time that I got experience after leaving the area manager, you kind of were exposed to EDPs and the C-suite, you know, at luncheons and things, but at Renaissance. And I was working on the floor on the same side as the C-suite, you know, with a billion dollar CEO of billion dollar CFOs and watching how they interact, hearing how they speak with each other.

JD Redmon (08:33):

It was the first time I recognized that fault issue should be taken like as yourself is never your team. And so that’s what I learned at Renaissance hearing. A lot of those leaders talk, you see them get chewed up. They would walk out upset. They would not walk out angry. They would go to their team express what took place. And then I had a different privy view because of my role. We we’re traveling to go save a client relationship. And then I get to hear that frustration. You know, like, man, the teams should have done this. The teams should have done that, but that was never discussed to their team. They got through getting yelled at, at the C-suite or at, by their boss or whoever the case may be. They walked over into that other department and they were calm and they were like, guys, here’s our tactics.

JD Redmon (09:14):

Here’s what we need to do. We’re seeing errors here, opportunities there. And they fixed it. But then I saw the humanistic side on the plane where I had to go save the client. And that’s what showed me that he was in the meeting. He was, he was angry and, but it wasn’t on his face. It wasn’t in his demeanor and his team left being encouraged. He didn’t go to his team like, ah, good. And I was on that team. So, you know, I left feeling pumped, moving from that. Scott, I went over to TTN fleet solutions as a director of sales and marketing worked my way up to VP of sales and marketing, and literally grew those departments from the ground up. So we took a company who was around 50 million, 70 million to now they’re well over 150 million air. Um, and we were making sure that in the maintenance side of the supply chain, that we were delivering results that will keep drivers on the road longer.

JD Redmon (10:07):

This is where I started to develop tactics for customer acquisition. So a lot of people look at marketing as just lead generation. I specifically look at it as if I want to work with supply chain now and I need to get Scott’s attention. How do I do that? Who do I call? And I go and do the accounting department. Should I go in through the client relations department? Because sometimes those gatekeepers are a lot softer. I want to market to every department that touches Scott. I want to talk to the two sales. I want to talk to marketing. I want to talk to County. Also want to go and not just client relations. I want to talk to some of these old clients. I want to know how they feel because some of those old clients still have relationships with them. And so we built a process that attacks and that word is fair.

JD Redmon (10:51):

We attack customers to ensure that when our clients want to reach after these five to 10 people, I’m going to hit them at every level, every department, every decision maker, head. And then eventually Scott’s going to swivel his head and say who the heck is this company? Because I keep hearing people in my company talk about them. And that’s when I realized that that was the way to get into the door was if I can market to the Scotts of the world, five to six months before we actually have a cold call, it’s no longer a cold call. It’s a morning,

Scott Luton (11:24):

Excellent point, strategic holistic, comprehensive. You are surrounded prospect. You must surrender. I love that. I love that. It really seems to be what you’re describing. You’re a thought leader in kind of how modern day forward looking biz dev and growth is done. You know, I was on a call. Yeah. I launched my business, my first business in 2013 and we’d go into different cities and we’d, we’d sell lean six Sigma training, right? I was with, uh, a great partner, uh, former Emery, um, uh, lead instructor for, for six segments. And he’d done it in the real world with, at T and T. So anyway, we would procure data to go into these new markets where we didn’t have any contacts back then. And that was just eight years ago. We’d get static spreadsheets, right. And try to put a plan together. Well, I was going to call this week with an AI driven. This is like, um, the matrix, how they can, they can, uh, find the contact information you need and do just like what you’re describing form a holistic multi-level multi-touch approach and all the information is at your fingertips. I mean, it’s just, it was, it was, for me, it was like a Eureka moment for just how far we’ve come with the tools of the trade. So I love to, I love that strategy and we’re going to have to reconnect, uh, after

JD Redmon (12:44):

There’s a platform right now, Scott, that not too many people know about, I’m not willing to release it yet because it’s still my baby. Um, although they are actively selling out there in their customer market space, but this platform allows me to eventually not only do like Google ad, but because we’re giving up so much free data as, as customers. And we don’t recognize it. I’m almost to the point now where I can tell you all who are listening and watching. I can tell you what Scott’s going to purchase next month. I’m almost to the point now where I know what groceries he can purchase. I know what he’s bringing in his home. I’m going to be able to tell you what he typically goes and gets his oil change done. I’m going to be able to tell you, there was one data point in there, man, where I learned from a prospect that he goes to a certain state and city every year, doing some digging and research. It comes to find out that this prospect had a best friend in college that passed away in that city, in that state. And every year on that Memorial, they go to visit that person. It starting to get to the point now where we know intimate data about you. But if I can use that intimate data to learn more, because if I know that’s the week that he goes for the Memorial, I’m not going to market to him that week, nor the week before the week after, as his mind, isn’t on discussing business.

Scott Luton (14:05):

It’s remarkable when you’re ready to talk those names when I tell you back home. But let’s so before we talk about what you’re doing now, because there’s so much good stuff there, one final question, Eureka moments, one of our favorite things to talk about here, and we all have them sometimes when we’re going through good or difficult stretches, we’re having several Eureka moments a day, but what’s been a, um, uh, an important one for you here.

JD Redmon (14:26):

The biggest Eureka moment I’ve had in concerns to our industry and supply chain is I don’t think any of us knew how feeble it was. And true supply chain, industry execs that are listening are like, Oh, we’ve already known that, you know, one or two things happened here. And it, it caused a, uh, you know, I don’t want to call it a butterfly flight, but a bullwhip effect, excuse me, guys, you caused the bullet effect. We that, but what we didn’t understand was the craziness of bullet effects in multiple industries at the exact same time on top of a pandemic on top of people over buying under and over saving at the exact same time. So how do you know what to order and when to order? And so their Eureka moment came is that the utility or the people of the world, we do control supply chain.

JD Redmon (15:15):

How do we track it better? We have to figure out then on a micro level, what spending is do is being done, not so much on a quarterly basis anymore, but we’ve had to go into the weekly spin basis of what are they doing in every state, every demographic, every region to make up this nation so that we then can say, what does the spin tell us that customers are looking for? That Eureka moment has blown me away because the Suez canal was, was big. And that was grandiose. And I understood what everyone was talking about and the port of LA, the SLU Rica moment there. But I’m starting to think about small things. Like for three weeks I walked in the store and there were no vegetables. And I lived out of Texas and I were going to multiple stores. And if they did have vegetables, it would be like pillage and Pake. And then, you know, everything else is wiped away. Weren’t seeing just common things being out. It wasn’t just totally paper. We’re seeing things that haven’t even come back to the shelf, like Lysol spray, you know, we’re starting to see the off-brands, but Lysol disinfectant spray still isn’t on my shelf. So, you know, it be there. How would it be there? That’s been my Eureka moment, man, is that the supply chain is just so, so it’s not even nimble, right. Campbell’s back. And it’s done.

Scott Luton (16:29):

All right. So I love that. Uh, gosh, if we could talk for a couple hours, but all right, so now I want to talk to you about what you’re doing now, what you’re doing now, uh, there’s so much good stuff there to kind of lay it on us.

JD Redmon (16:43):

Yeah. So I was telling Scott, before we started you off that entrepreneurship, isn’t what everyone proclaimed it to be. And it looks like this golden child. And so you have people on LinkedIn and multiple platforms, quit your employer today, stop being used by other people and go start your business because you won’t live life until you starts with business and go out and you’re all pumped. And you’re like, Whoa, I’m going to start my business with no idea who I’m going to have as customers. And no idea what my business plan is executed. I don’t have a bank and I don’t have business credit. Oh, wait, I have to fund this myself. And I have to pay myself out of gross income. And now that reduces my net. Like guys, when I started this business, it was truly on a whim and it was, it was broke days.

JD Redmon (17:30):

And I started in October, November. I was looking for clients, no clients, $0 brought in, okay. December, which my birthday is December 6th. I was flat broke on December 6th. I had paid all of my bills. I had about $1,200 left in my bank account. I had to ask my mom about $300 to cover three more. I was down to 600 bucks in my bank account, December the 13th or December the 12th. All of a sudden four clients finally all said yes, like on the same day. And then we ended the year technically, right? Because everyone’s gonna look at my year in roasting 85 grand. Okay. But what they don’t see is this for two months, I was broke and was living off of oatmeal. And I was driving Lyft and I was driving Uber and I was doing oddball jobs, trying to take care of my family and make sure that they were fed.

JD Redmon (18:21):

This was all happening with, if you’re listening to this whole story, our family just had damage on our land. I just had to pay deposits for two different properties. So I’m running on fumes here and you know, but I’m an entrepreneur. And I wake up every day with hours that belong to me. And as we built it and we ended the year on 85 grand clients continued to come in and we started doing better and better, but then guess what? I had to hire people. Right? And as much as we clap for people getting hired in this environment for a small business right now me hiring someone truly was life or death. Because now I’m saying, well, shoot, I’m bringing you into my mess. And I call it a business, you know? And it’s, and it’s a great business, but you know, I was okay with me, not knowing some days like, man, this, if they don’t pay the invoice on time, this may not get paid.

JD Redmon (19:12):

Well now it’s, if these people don’t pay on time, I have families who won’t get fed. That’s a different level of stress that I don’t think a lot of people recognize hits the heart of a business leader. So yes, today at seven months we are now hovering right over 300 grand in gross. It’s been beautiful, you know, w our net, isn’t where I want it to be. But at the same time, I’m excited that we were able to stay afloat during the pandemic. But Scott, it hasn’t been easy. It’s been some days where tears filled my eyes. It’s been some days where I’ve had to call my mentors and ask them, what am I doing? You know, like, am I on the right path? And they’re like, yes, keep going. We’re going to support you. And I had imposter syndrome. I was like, I’m not good. I don’t have my expertise. You know, I really want people out there to know the psychological battle of being a business leader and owner when you’re truly growing something. That’s your baby. It’s tough because I had Scott encouraged me. You encouraged me. You, I hate to keep going. You said more about to keep going. I’ve been there. I remember when I was there and just keep going. And that keeps moving. That’s something,

Scott Luton (20:19):

Uh, Hey, I’m with you. I felt almost every syllable. What you just shared, because I think, especially in these environments where we’re, we’re going through a heavy, transactional period, right? Where probably a lot of non, a lot of folks aren’t entrepreneurs are looking at these deals, you know, a hundred million dollars here, 10 being here, all points in between. And they perhaps I know I did before my experiences. I assumed all of that stuff, that there was just money out there. And if you had a business and one do a business, you’re going to, you know, that you just had to work, right. But as JD is describing, it is as much of a business rollercoaster and professional drill at rollercoaster that it is and leadership rollercoaster, and kind of a thinking exercise. It is a massive emotional exercise, whether you’re geared as an engineer or whether you’re geared as an extrovert, or if you’re however you’re geared.

Scott Luton (21:08):

And man, I, and that’s what I’m kind of hearing you talk about the whole enchilada during your journey and what you had to break through because not only is the market doubting you. And when I say you, I mean, all of us, you had those days where you doubt your own, you know where nothing’s going, right. And you’re like, man, is this the path I’m supposed to be home? And, and, and to your point, that’s when you do lean on those rocks and your, your inner fortitude and your belief and confidence that we are creating and delivering value. And there’s a place in this market for, so JD, I love it. So, so, so folks know, cause I’d love to, I’d love to get to the point where folks know when they need to call JD Redmond. So in a nutshell, you know, what does your business offer right now?

JD Redmon (21:51):

Yeah. So AXA is truly a marketing firm, right? We do the social media posting. So we do deliver a curate and then managed for you campaigns. So companies called us and I’ve had some people say, JD, I need a six month campaign. I want to focus on this specific part of the trucking industry. I want to target these specific customers. I want your strategy to get into their offices. And I, how do you guarantee me that? Well, one, I can’t ever guarantee anything, but two, I can promise you that any customer I’ve ever gone after I’ve gotten to. So that’s something that I can guarantee all of my own precognition. I can not guarantee you that because it’s not a hundred percent for any business, but for personally, I’ve never not gone after a company that I could not find a way to get into that business and eventually get to the business or decision-maker.

JD Redmon (22:41):

So we do one campaign curation and social media posting and managing for you. Two. The biggest thing that I believe a lot of companies are looking for right now is understanding the structure of their organizational marketing needs. When you come to me, there are some times where clients say, JD, I need you to be my fractional CMO or my fractional VP of marketing. I need your team to be my fractional marketing department. And I want the bells and whistles, and I need this. I need social media. I need curation. I want product, man. I want video production. I want photography. And I sit down and look at them and I said, Hey, you know what you say? Your, your wife helps you in the business a lot. Right? Right. She loves doing marketing, you know, reaching customers. Right, right. Awesome. So I’m going to send you over to the design pickle.

JD Redmon (23:26):

They’re one of my favorite people to utilize and design pickle. We’ll give you access to a great designer for about a thousand dollars a month and you and your wife can sit down on one Saturday, sipping a sweet tea and what you guys want to post for the next month, do it as a social media calendar. And then you’re going to be able to do that on your own. Well, JD seems like a lot of work. One Saturday afternoon with your wife having a good time or significant other, or your friend or your business partner, whatever the case may be eight hours a day to knock out an entire month, sometimes quarter worth of content. It should be easy for you to do it. And it’s only costing you a thousand dollars versus having to pay a designer, typically between 3.5 and 5.5 K a month, as well as my fees and these other fees.

JD Redmon (24:09):

So there are times where I say, that’s what you need. And the third option that has truly been our bread winner and moneymaker maker is video production. We do video production with JW films, whose name is Jimmy Walker. He’s been the video producer for the saints football team. He does it for a university of Texas Arlington. He does it for an a university as well as he does it for out here at TCU, very well known in the industry. We have a methodology where we don’t do a video shoot. And it’s two videos. When you come in with us, we start at 7:00 AM. We may not finish until 5:00 PM. You’re going to walk away with about 30 to 45 videos, quality solid. We’re going to have them planned all the way, put out. What does that mean? Well, gee, that’s a long day. You’re right.

JD Redmon (24:53):

As long for all of us, but your cost goes down when I can increase your outage. If I can give you 30 to 45 videos, you’re now paying about 200 to $300 per video. Instead of on average, most high quality depth videos are between 1.5, 2000 sometimes greater. So that’s been our bread. One of the, as far as because people recognize that one. When you come to me, even if that means going to another company, I will give you the best solution. I do not charge you just to charge. I do not take revenue just to have revenue. I have turned down many accompany because they truly didn’t need me. They want additional person on their team. And I coach them through that. Now that was still a fee, of course, through that coaching. You gave me 10 grand a month versus, Hey, JD, I need you to coach this person four hours out of the month. And that’s going to cost you a grand to 1500 is a completely different cost saving.

Scott Luton (25:46):

I love that. I love that we’re talking forward-looking content and, uh, sales, marketing, and supply chain because that’s, the industry has evolved quite a bit. So I love that. And I, and, and JD your background, I’m sure serves you really well as a, as kind of the supply chain practitioner, and you combined with your, you know, your marketing guru and an expertise. So we’ll keep our finger on the pulse. As your business continues to grow. I want to kind of move to the bigger picture, right? The industry, the state of the global business world. And there’s so much going on. There’s so much going on here in the States and certainly around the world on so many different levels. Goodness gracious. We’re not gonna do it justice, but first question. So I want you to fill in the blank here. So global business would be so much better if leaders did well

JD Redmon (26:29):

Go visit will be so much better. And I say that again for audio. Cause I know he has a producer. Who’s going to kick my butt for that sentence of global business would be so much better if leaders remembered that they’re actual people too. And what I mean by that is, for some reason, when we walk into our business setting, you know, the old school says put on your professional hat and you know, and since we used to tell people, leave the real Scott, leave the real JD outside. I want to talk to business. Scott, I want to talk to business JD. So, you know, we walk in now it’s the morning morning. How are you? How well, thank you. Thank you. Great, great knowing it’s and we all change. And all of a sudden, there’s this robust strategy to, to knock the doors down.

JD Redmon (27:11):

And you know, we have to be data driven and we have to be thought provoking and we have to make sure that there’s transparency and perspectives. And we have all of these little slogans to say that we just need to be approachable. That know how to talk with people. And this access and marketing and supply chain right now is the exact opposite of where marketing and sales has pushed. It everyone’s going digital. So people are throwing tons of money into digital, digital, digital they’re spending. And when I say times I have a client right now who spending 400 grand a month in Google ads, is it justified? Yes. That 400 grand brings in about 3.5 to almost $5 million in revenue per month for them. So it’s justified. I get it. But guess what guys, the most memorable act we didn’t do in this day and age is if I was to send Scott a letter in the mail and he walks outside in the morning with this cup of Joe and he goes to the mailbox, he grabbed it, it says JD. And he walks inside. He’s like, Hey, JD, send me a letter. And she’s like, well, what does it say? And he’s like, you know, whatever. And he opens it all. It says, I hope you have a great day, but he’s smiling the entire time that he’s doing it. Or maybe on a podcast show. I heard Scott say that, let’s say he likes the Cowboys. Cause they’re the best team that’s ever existed in sports.

JD Redmon (28:30):

Right. It’s the Cowboys. And I said, Scott, some cowboy memorabilia. And he’s just like, man, that’s awesome. We want to touch people. And as soon as leaders remember that everyone is missing out on touch right now because of the pandemic. That’s when you’re going to see a huge increase of people following your brand and increase in brand loyalty because you’re touching them. I see things all day long as I’m scrolling and we all like the zombies, but that’s not touching me. Right. It’s different.

Scott Luton (29:01):

Yeah. I liked that. I think we all win when we find those levels of connection and commonality, because whether folks, some folks want to know not to not, we all are human. And, and, and I love how that, that theme and that whether it’s empathy, whether it as Simon coined on one of our livestreams, humanistic leadership, which I love or whatever it is, you know, I think that that is incredible context that really helps real conversations to take place so that there’s no levels. There’s no, there’s no, you know, C-suite versus other suites. We’re all people traveling through this, this journey together. So I love that. Fill in the blank there. So very nice job JD. So moving forward and we’ve touched on a lot thus far. So what’s one other thing that you’re really tracking when it comes to global business right now.

JD Redmon (29:51):

So I, I believe we’re starting to see a sheriff and we have to discuss it. It’s not so much the diversity issues that we’re having, dealing with the police that’s completely different conversation, but we are having to recognize, we have to all look at, as that diversity is now coming into sales and marketing. So we’ve always would suspect some diversity here and there, but now you’re starting to see in movies, more leads with African-Americans Hispanics, Asians, and businesses. We’re starting to see more hires that are ethnicities or considerable minorities. And so, as we’re looking at this trend specifically, a global business, it’s having to reteach marketers and advertising agencies all over again. Because one thing that we were lacking is that how can I make a global campaign for a company when I don’t have global representation inside my agency to represent this? That means that I need to be able to have access to people that are apart of this community.

JD Redmon (30:49):

So now what we’re having to do in marketing, you’re seeing more firms and agencies saying, I need focus groups. And so just like it, wasn’t a nineties and early two thousands where you had professional focus group members. That’s what their job was throughout the day. They went to focus groups all day long and they represented a specific niche group. That’s now coming back and we’re starting to see that people are saying, yeah, that sounds great for that specific group. But for my group, that actually doesn’t make sense. It will be said this way. So it’s something that we’re tracking because it’s a little bit difficult when you start to make content that you want to be for everyone. So you then have to start looking at Coca Cola and Pepsi, how do they make such a memorable brand? And everyone feels as though they’re a part of that member of the brand.

JD Redmon (31:34):

And one thing that they’ve done is they’ve taken away. The need was so much diversity pushing and put African American in the front like this, or, you know, a white guy like this, or, you know, but it was more so they show actions that are graphics. So it might’ve been me and Scott and three of our buddies sitting out on our pickup trucks, I’m throwing SCADA, a Coke. He getting rid of the catch in somebody else’s on the grill. It’s multiple ethnicities that everyone’s having a good time. And we just all happen to be sharing a Coke where at that point again, where we’re having to see those types of static graphs.

Scott Luton (32:12):

Well, say it, I think the other thing that we, that we’re both aware of is, is, is AI AI. We’ve got such a, I’m not a technologist, but in terms of the coding and the programming, we know all the assumptions that, and all of that stuff, all the inputs that go into AI and we’ve got, we’ve got to challenge all those assumptions so that certain, so the outputs are as diverse and inclusive as your, as the environment you’re describing a moment ago. And that’s got, fortunately there’s, there are smart people. And whether, you know, regardless of what definition of diverse, cause there’s so many, you know, all different walks of life, right? And there’s a lot of smart people that have formed think tanks, action, focused, think tanks to attack those opportunities and make sure that AI doesn’t, doesn’t not only not calls us or not, does not lead more growth in these areas, but also perhaps even more importantly, they don’t, we don’t regress, you know, all those other things that you’ve spoken to because the AI is based on, on, um, you know, one view, you know, one point of view. So no shortage of challenges, uh, these days, J D

JD Redmon (33:20):

That’s the point where we’re going to need to stop being so angry, you know? And that, that’s where we are now, Scott, to talk about the times I’ve been very clear with people in Dallas and throughout the entire United States, especially when, you know, things took off with me on that Sunday a few months ago, where there’s a need for protests, but then there also a need for dialogue, like what we’re having between you and ourselves, and to be quite Frank on the level that I am with other African-Americans other minorities that may feel any way swayed left, or right now it’s not anger. It’s how do we sit down and talk through it? And how do we develop a process and a solution to ensure that we don’t have to continue going forward? Because right now, and I’m going to say something that, you know, if the wrong person sees this, they’re going to cut this one clip and make me sound one other day.

JD Redmon (34:09):

But right now we’re in the point where I believe some African-Americans and some minorities are addicted to the feeling of victimization and that feeling of victimization, it feels good because when you’re the victim, nothing’s your fault. You know, when you’re that nothing is in your control. When you’re the victim, you don’t have a say in your future. I have been in victimized situations, but I think I’ve proven myself to always come out and Vic tour, because I don’t allow anyone to victimize me. I don’t care. What title would person wear? Colored white, black Pocono. It doesn’t matter. You can’t victimize JD Redmond because I know who I am, and I know how to fight without fighting with these. I know how to fight without burning things down. I know how I’m fired without terrorizing my own city. I know how to fight without having to literally belittle other people, because that’s the status that they chose to be.

JD Redmon (35:02):

I E blue lags matter. I don’t have to have the little mint of them through their career choices. I do see things change as far as how processes and procedures are done inside of their actual niche industry. But at the same point in time, guess what? Scott, I’ve never had a threat in my face like that outside of a deer. And there was one time a bear that went up about 45 yards away. And I mean, it was, you know, at that point, like if he takes a step, I’m going to have to unload my rifle, but that was the closest I’ve come to having to have. So I don’t know what I personally would do if I was a police officer and I felt somebody was a threat and they were coming at me or if that fight or flight triggered in me, I don’t know that, but I do know that I can use my most powerful weapon, which has been proven to be my voice and how I speak specifically towards these issues to sway change. So that’s the best I can say to, to that issue.

Scott Luton (36:03):

I appreciate that. And kind of a different wrinkle of this issue in industry. And, you know, I’ll look at the supply chain, you know, we’re looking to C suite and, you know, fortune 500 companies for example, and there’s, it, it is, there’s not enough diversity. And what’s interesting if you look at a lot of studies, if you look at even even looking at just one simple Def you know, one definition, male, female, w folks coming into the industry, right? That’s according to some studies, you’ve got more women, it’s a slightly more coming into the industry than, than men, according to Psalm. But regardless, I think it’s an arguable disc it’s close to 50, 50. However, as you go through that, that career progression at each stage, the representation gets much more skewed up into, I think it’s less than 5%. I think it’s less than 5% of all fortune 500 C CEOs are female. And that’s just one again, as we both know, that’s just one definition. One way you look at diversity of so many different walks of life, you know, regardless of what it is. I think we’ve got a lot more, I believe we got a lot more heavy lifting to do, to truly provide opportunities for all on a number of different layers, which would you agree?

JD Redmon (37:14):

I would agree with that. And I think to your example, that’s typically the example that I bring up when I discuss privileges. So when you just spoke about when it comes to women, being in leadership, in supply chain and almost in any industry, what typically takes place is male privilege. Now I’m going to describe a scenario that many of you are going to be familiar with, whether you’re a male or female, or you do not observe to any gender bias, you may be day or, you know, on gendered. I want to be at where anyone is watching. Typically what takes places when you’re in a male dominated group, men are going to talk to men. We’re louder, we’re more boisterous. Our voices are stronger. We learned over the years that our fathers and forefathers, when they have a point to get across, they’re going to speak like this.

JD Redmon (37:56):

That tone kind of increases a little bit. You’re going to hear them. You’ll hear multiple men continue to talk until two or three, finally shut up. And that one voice goes through versus what a lot of ladies, when they are raised, they’re taught to kind of be respectful of who’s speaking, you know, and you see that as a mother, I’ve seen my mom talked to my sisters, Hey, calm down. You know, wait a second, let me finish that. They’re not taught to keep pushing their point forward. So male privileges when you’re standing in a group and there’s a lady there and she says something well, when men being men started talking and going, you know, boisterous, her voice gets drowned out. Now she’s not looked at as a leader because she’s not willing to scream and go across the table with us. So she asked if I have a different battle, she becomes more practical because she has to become more tactical. And God forbid, she shows any amount of emotion, because then she becomes the emotionally unstable woman in the room that, and it validates to some of the men, why some women shouldn’t be in leadership because they’re too emotional. And we deal with this male privilege that ladies deal with all the time. Right. That’s what a lot of men don’t even recognize this as privileged, because that’s just how we were raised. We just talk loud and, you know, we expect ladies to oftentimes be quiet when you overspeak them.

Scott Luton (39:08):

Yeah. I think, uh, you’re really what I’m hearing you touch on is this unconscious bias, right? Cause it’s, it’s instinctive is kind of how we’re wired and it doesn’t make it right. It’s just how evolution evolution or, or how, you know, uh, our journeys play out. Uh, and, and also what I would argue, just my opinion, because I’ve had plenty of folks come out and, and come at me on LinkedIn in particular, because I believe in unconscious bias, big, first step is being aware, being aware of how that exists. And if you can’t embrace that, I’ll say it you’re part of the problem. And in my view, so, but we’ll, we’ll bring, we’ll, we’ll keep that. We’ll continue on that discussion. Maybe on a future show. Let’s let’s wrap here, uh, you know, the pandemic, goodness gracious, wherever folks are listening to this, I hope the numbers are getting better. And the vaccine distribution distribution is getting better in your part of the world. We still see a variety of numbers, uh, based on different continents and countries. And we all can’t wait man, to be really in that post pandemic environment. So we can do this in person and we’ll get there. But in the meantime, what’s been your biggest lesson learned JD Redmond from the pandemic environment.

JD Redmon (40:18):

I think the pandemic just truly showed me personally. I’d be a person who professionally personally, it show me how much I live as a son, as a Beyonce, as a father being that, that male that grew up around the old school man that I go out, I go to work, come home. You know, you can swipe the credit card and you know, back then my grandmother did write a check. She never thought twice. If the groceries were expensive, whatever she needed, she stroked the check and went on about her life because my grandfather was out there working. I always made sure she was there on mom with me. I was like, well, I’m providing for my family. You know, I’m doing this. My mind never saw me. Really. My NAZA never saw me my side. He saw me, but it wasn’t as much as needed.

JD Redmon (41:03):

And I just realized that when we weren’t traveling anymore, dang, I really was only calling my mom, you know, once a day, sometimes and were conversations or, or, you know, my son would see me every other day. And he’d say, dad, I missed you. I’m saying I know, but dad has to make sure he could pay for clothes and shoes and explain it to a five-year-old like he remotely cared about his Spider-Man shoes that he had on. He rather go barefoot. It, that means that he could spend more time with me. So it taught that I needed to value my personal connections a lot more. Not just because people were passing away that I personally knew of COVID. But just because I recognize now that there’s no amount of money that will ever bring back any of those loved ones, if they were to leave today.

JD Redmon (41:49):

And that just, that scared me into a lesson learned of, Hey mom, how are you? You know, talking more, most people see me on these shows. They think I talk about Scott, I’m the person that you would probably, um, my fiance will tell you if you can get 15 words out of me on a Saturday, congratulations, because I will sit there and study all day long, just, you know, the market and doing my thing professionally. What the pandemic taught me is that there’s money to be made. And there are solutions out there that need solution makers, excuse me, there are problems out there that needs solution makers. And there are people that are finding solutions to the weirdest problems and they’re becoming overnight millionaires. And that is to encourage anyone listening today. I don’t care if you think the problem that you have a solution to is small.

JD Redmon (42:37):

My new silly, crazy stupid start the start, the business, start the problem solving, figure it out, find a way to, to answer it and go forward. VC capital money is abundant this year and will be abundant probably until 2025 because the billionaires and millionaires made enough money last year to where now they want to make more by investing in you. So, you know, there’s money to be made. Go find it, even if your company. And it just says Scott, in front of the sales Scott, if he could sell a hundred dollars a month for 20 bucks each, like let’s do it.

Scott Luton (43:14):

Well. I love that point of view. And it reminds me this morning, I came across a, um, a blog article by a, uh, CEO and CTO of a global technology provider. And the paraphrase he based was talking about how is staggering, the amount of innovation that has as the dependent has fueled. And he touched on a couple different examples. And then he, he kind of ended with his testimony to human resilience, right? And I would argue, I love that optimistic cause we got to have it on five feet of stuff. But, but JD, I think you’re a wonderful, I know resilience is overused, but it’s overused because of the meaning behind it. And, and that, that makes it very real. And I would argue that you’re a great example of human resilience and leadership resilience and look forward to what’s to come. So for folks, let, let’s make sure that folks want to connect with JD Redmond. How can they connect with you and compare notes or social or whatever.

JD Redmon (44:08):

That’s the way it’s on LinkedIn guys typer. My name’s 80 Redmond Nadi. There’s another JD Redmond. He’s a good buddy of mine now because he gets tagged for a lot of my stuff and I get tagged a lot of his stuff. So you see how just send him a request to he’s. He’s a good buddy about it. Now find me on LinkedIn, email me@jdataccesexpd.com. Those are the easiest way to in contact and then watch where this show. Um, I told Scott about some of the things that I have cooking up and we’re about two weeks away from launching that. And Scott has been the precipice of me releasing my ideas to the world. This one was truly going to, I think this has got to rock the entire globe on this one. So it’s a gold changer. It comes from Scott’s old background of recruiting. So just, just give me a second and we’ll act with the way that to not to talk about that too.

Scott Luton (44:59):

Awesome. Well, we’ll have you back. I love your perspective and your storytelling. It really, it makes for an enjoyable interview. So big, thanks to JD Redmond, founder and CEO with acts H E X P D. So great CJD. We’ll see it’s in there. All right, folks, hopefully you enjoy this episode is conversation. It’s real authentic conversation. As much as I have, we should have been recording their pre-show version, but Hey, the real show version was that was a home run too. So we’ll have to have JD back with a space wherever you are seeing this listing, this, watching this, uh, we’re wishing all the best to you as we fight to get into the post pandemic environment, really with both feet and all 10 toes, but on behalf of our entire team here at supply chain now, Scotland and signing off for now. Hey, do good. Give forward. Be the change that seemed to be just like JD Redmond and know that, and it was see you next time on spot you now. Thanks for buddy.

Intro/Outro (45:50):

Thanks for being a part of our supply chain. Now community check out all of our programming@supplychainnow.com and make sure you subscribe to supply chain. Now anywhere you listen to podcasts and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. See you next time on supply chain. Now.